Chart Watch: ScHoolboy Q Bumps “Frozen”

Yahoo Music

Paul GreinMarch 5, 2014

ScHoolboy Q makes hitting #1 look as easy as learning your ABCs. The Los Angeles rapper enters The Billboard 200 in the top spot with hisfirst major-label album, "Oxymoron." ScHoolboy Q is the first hip-hopper to break through to his first #1 album since Wale scored in June with "The Gifted." J. Cole, Jay Z, Drake and Eminem have all hit #1 since then, but they had all topped the chart previously. ScHoolboy Q had two previous albums, but neither rose above #100.

ScHoolboy Q has been featured on several hit albums, including A$AP Rocky's "Long.Live.A$AP," which hit #1 in January 2013, and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis's "The Heist," which reached #2 in October 2012. (He was featured on that album's fourth hit, "White Walls," which reached #15 on the Hot 100.)

"Oxymoron" sold 139K copies in its first week. That includes 92K digital copies, which also puts it at #1 on Top Digital Albums.

ScHoolboy Q (real name: Quincy Matthew Hanley) is the first "Quincy" to reach #1. You may be surprised to learn that the legendary Quincy Jones never had a #1 album. His highest-charting album as an artist was "Body Heat," which reached #6 in 1974. "Q" did produce two #1 albums for Michael Jackson ("Thriller" and "Bad") and produced the title track on the chart-topping "We Are The World" collection.

ScHoolboy Q was born on a military base in Wiesbaden, Germany. Other chart-topping artists who were born to military personnel based in Germany include Jackson Browne and Rob Thomas.

The "Frozen" soundtrack dips from #1 to #2. Initial projections had it dropping to #4, but it held up better than expected. The movie won two Oscars on Sunday, the last night of the tracking week. This is the album's ninth consecutive week at #1 or #2. It's the first soundtrack to spend nine weeks in the top two since "Titanic" logged 16 weeks in the top two (all of them at #1) in 1998. Both of these soundtracks spawned Oscar-winners for Original Song.

"Frozen" is #1 on Top Soundtracks for the 14th week. The movie was in the top 10 at the box-office for the 14th weekend.

Beck's "Morning Phase" debuts at #3. It's his second highest-charting album to date, behind only "Guero," which debuted and peaked at #2 in 2005. (It's his highest-charting album to date in the U.K., where it debuts at #4.) Want a little trivia? "Morning Phase" is the first top 10 album with a title that begins with the word "Morning" to crack the top 10 since Incubus' "Morning View," which debuted and peaked at #2 in October 2001. (I think the key word there was "little.")

Kid Cudi's "Satellite Flight:The Journey To Mother Moon" debuts at #4. All four of his studio albums have made the top five. The album is digital-only and is available only as a full album (in both cases, like Beyonce's "Beyonce" in its first week on the market in December).

Romeo Santos' "Formula, Vol. 2" debuts at #5. The album features an impressive roster of guest stars, including Drake, Nicki Minaj, Santana and Marc Anthony. The #5 debut marks an improvement over "Formula, Vol. 1," which debuted and peaked at #9 in November 2011. Santos first reached the top 10 as a member of the "bachata" group Aventura. That group's "The Last" reached #5 in June 2009.

"Formula, Vol. 2" is the highest-charting Latin album on The Billboard 200 since Mana's "Drama y Luz" debuted and peaked at #5 in April 2011. Santos' album sold 85K copies, which is the highest one-week sales tally for a Latin album since RBD's "Celestials" sold 117K in its first week in November 2006 (when it debuted at #15).

Dierks Bentley's "Riser" debuts at #6. (Herb Alpert took an album titled "Rise" to #6 in 1979. So adding the "r" didn't gain Bentley's album even a single notch.) "Riser" enters Top Country Albums at #1, displacing Eric Church's "The Outsiders." It's Bentley's fifth #1 country album. That's all of his albums since 2005, except for 2010's bluegrass-influenced "Up On The Ridge," which peaked at #2.

Pharrell Williams's "Happy" sold 413K copies, which puts it at #1 on Hot Digital Songs for the third week. It's the first song to sell at least 400K copies two weeks running since Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" (which featured Williams, along with T.I.). That smash topped 400K for three straight weeks last summer. Will "Happy" log its second week at #1 on the Hot 100? Of course it will. It'll be official later today when we post my first of two Songs blogs.

Here's a recap of this week's top 10 albums.

The Top Five: ScHoolboy Q's "Oxymoron" debuts at #1 (139K). It's his first top 10 album. … The "Frozen" soundtrack dips from #1 to #2 in its 14th week (91K). This is its 12th week in the top 10 … Beck's "Morning Phase" debuts at #3 (87K). It's his fifth top 10 album … Kid Cudi's "Satellite Flight:The Journey To Mother Moon" debuts at #4 (87K). It's his fourth top five album … Romeo Santos' "Formula, Vol. 2" debuts at #5 (85K). It's his second top 10 album as a solo artist.

The Second Five: Dierks Bentley's "Riser" debuts at #6 (63K). It's his seventh top 10 album… Eric Church's "The Outsiders" drops from #2 to #7 in its third week (43K). It has been in the top 10 the entire time … The Fray's "Helios" debuts at #8 (37K). It's the band's third top 10 album … "Now 49" drops from #4 to #9 in its fourth week (34K). It has been in the top 10 the entire time … Beyonce's "Beyonce" drops from #5 to #10 in its 12th week (32K). It has been in the top 10 the entire time.

Issues' "Issues" plummets from #9 to #76 in its second week. Ouch! Five other albums drop out of the top 10 this week. Cole Swindell's"Cole Swindell" drops from #3 to #15. Lorde's"Pure Heroine" drops from #6 to #11. Katy Perry's"PRISM" drops from #7 to #14. Bruno Mars's"Unorthodox Jukebox" drops from #8 to #16. Toni Braxton & Babyface's "Love, Marriage & Divorce" drops from #10 to #19.

St. Vincent's fourth album,"St. Vincent," debuts at #12. It's her second top 20 album. "Strange Mercy" reached #19 in 2011. St. Vincent (real name: Annie Clark) was formerly a member of ThePolyphonic Spree … James Fortune & Fiya's "Live Through It" debuts at #13. This is the seventh album for Fortune, who is a gospel artist. A Hole album in 1994 had a similar title: "Live Through This" … Bastille's "Bad Blood" drops from #25 to #30 in its 26th week. It's #1 on the U.K.'s Official Albums Chart for the third week.

The digital-only "Girls Volume 2: All Adventurous Women Do" soundtrack vaults from #198 to #37 in its third week. The first volume debuted and peaked at #65 in January 2013. The HBO series has been nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series two years running … Bruno Mars's "Doo-Wops & Hooligans" drops from #41 to #46 in its 175th week. The album logs its 15th week at #1 on Top Catalog Albums … The "Son Of God" soundtrack debuts at #67. The movie was #2 at the box-office over the weekend, just behind "Non-Stop."

Metallica's"Through The Never" is #1 onTop Music Videos for the fifth straight week. It's the first video by a rock band to log five straight weeks at #1 since Rush's "Beyond The Lighted Stage" spent 10 consecutive weeks on top in 2010.

Coming Attractions: Look for Pharrell Williams's "G I R L" to debut at #1 next week. Also due: Rick Ross' "Mastermind," Lea Michele's "Louder," American Authors' "Oh What A Life," David Nail's "I'm A Fire" and Eli Young Band's "10,000 Towns."